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You're not sitting down today. You're standing up, waiting for Tyler. You're clutching your notebook tightly.

Tyler smiles when he sees you. Sometimes you wonder why he's still around. He must like you as a person. He must look past that fact that you can't talk, right? Why else would he be your friend?

Does he feel sorry for you?

Of course he feels sorry for you. That is the one and only reason anyone ever stays. Sympathy.

You squeeze your eyes shut to try to stop the tears. Now you're the one that's feeling sorry for you. You tell your mind to shut up.

Tyler's smile disappears when he gets close to you.

"Wh-what's wrong?" He asks softly. "Are you okay?"

You open your notebook and show him what you wrote before he got here.

As soon as Tyler reads the page, his expression changes from concern to anger immediately.

He grits his teeth, reaches forward, and rips out the notebook page.

Tyler wraps you in a tight hug as the words My dad hit me float to the ground.

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